Like being a citizen farmer, only easier on the back.

10 February 2012

2012 nonfiction trends: part 3.

To me, it seems that a third trend in 2012 nonfiction titles is a focus on Environmental and Natural History titles.

I have absolutely nothing against Environmental titles; many of them have been written by some of my favorite authors (Rachel Carson and Wendell Berry, I'm looking at you). All the same, I can't say that there is anything in the spreadsheet (under Environmental writing) or on this list that I really, really must read any time soon. Although Richard Fortey's Horseshoe Crabs and Velvet Worms: The Story of the Animals and Plants that Time Left Behind does sound kind of interesting.

So there's my ideas about 2012 nonfiction trends: politics, comforting history and historical biography, and environmental titles. If you'd like to see a PDF version of the talk I gave, here it is (or you can click on the Nonfiction Trends 2012 (OWLS) link at the right).

What I want to know is: do you agree with these trends? Have you been noticing any nonfiction trends? (I also think that there's fewer memoirs coming out this year, although I think they'll continue to be popular with readers.) Any trends that you'd LIKE to see?

CR, I've missed your blog so much! I hate being so busy that I'm always a month behind and miss the comment window (and I wish I weren't catching up when it's so glum in your reading world)!

I'd like to see some really decent scientific history titles. Or even something pop-science like The Hot Zone. That trend seems to have died, for the most part, but it was fun.

I wish John Barry would write another doorstopper, because he finds fascinating subjects (my fave of his is Rising Tide).

I wish all the political BS would go away, and the rage-aholic authors would shrivel up and blow away. I could also do with far fewer titles about making crafts out of pet hair. But that's just because I hate spending money on them.

I'm kind of excited that the War of 1812 is getting a little attention, personally. I could do with less Civil War/Founding Fathers nonsense. I also really want to read An Economist Gets Lunch and Born with a Junk Food Deficiency. Just because. And I confess to a weakness for back to the land nightmare memoirs, mostly as a reminder to never fall into that trap.

But do you know the trend I'm hating most at the moment? Medical memoirs. Not illness memoirs (I can't read them, but maybe they give someone hope or solace). Memoirs by doctors and surgeons. Few doctors can write well, and most don't seem to have anything worth saying. Please spare us.

Rachael,
Thanks for the kind words. Don't worry about the "comment window"--I see all new comments, on whichever posts they're made, as they're made, and I'll always try and respond.

Amen on the "political bs," sister.

I agree with you about scientific history (have you seen the graphic novel "Radioactive"?) but most of the history this spring seems to be of the global/war/broader topics type.

If you do find a good book on 1812 let us all know, would you?

Huh, medical memoirs. There has been an uptick in them lately--must be the fact that Atul Gawande has been such a popular seller. Have you seen a book called "The Orange Wire Problem," though? That was kind of a mind-bender, for a medical memoir, I thought: http://www.citizenreader.com/citizen/2010/01/i-hate-people-with-multiple-skills.html. But don't get it if you're sick of them! That sort of thing just leads to reading slumps--I should know. :)